Exeter was busy...next stop Chagford

Friday and Saturday's craft fair in Exeter was lovely - great entertainment (as you can see) and lots of friends old and new stopped by Cathedral Green's tented village to say hello.  

Regional craft fairs have being doing the pop-up thing for years now and the 'as if by magic' element of these events creates a real buzz among the crowds.  Fantastically for us the concept has been embraced by the foodies in Exeter - fine dining pop-ups are sprouting to great acclaim and are proving extremely popular if the stampede for tickets is anything to go by.  We caught one by Pickle Shack cheffed by the destined for great things Josh McDonald-Johnson a couple of weeks ago and it really was magical.

Whilst we're hungrily waiting for gossip of the next hot pop-up we're busy making things for our stall at the truly lovely Chagford Show which opens its gates on 20th August.  And whilst we're there we'll definitely be popping in to see our friends at the Mill End hotel right by the showground for a yummy cream tea - can't wait! (can anybody tell we haven't had any breakfast yet?) 

the great outdoors...

One of the fantastic things about summer in the UK is the festival season - and we're not talking harvest festivals (although they do do them extremely well round here it has to be said).  No, we mean the glorious events around the country celebrating the best in music, food, literature, fun - and friendship.

Our friends at Wildling are off to Somersault soon, (closely followed by the Port Eliot festival) and we've started to get those 'has anyone got a 6 man tent we can borrow?' requests which reach their peak in late July/early August.

We'll also be shaking our tail feathers along with the best of them and this year we'll be taking our brand new trusty backpacks (still very excited about those - absolutely 100 % definitely no kiddy snacks going anywhere near mine - that's what the chap's 'had it since travelling, never chucking it out' North Face rucksack is for).

We've even decorated our window to match our camping mood (although we don't think there will be any wild bears where we're going).

Exeter Craft Festival's coming soon - the workshop is busy!

Friday 17th and Saturday 18th July see us at the Exeter Craft Festival on Cathedral Green (stand 73 if you'd like to come and say hello).  We love this craft fair - it has a really friendly atmosphere and there are some gorgeous creations on offer.

Hilary's been busy making lots of things to take - as well as the usual array of bags (including our brand new 'trusty backpacks' - we're very excited) there will be plenty of keyrings and smaller items on our stall.  Fingers crossed that this weirdly cold and rainy July weather will be long gone by then!

The sheep aren't too impressed with the rain either - last weekend saw the remainder of our flock being shorn and now they're all looking a bit damp out in the fields without their coats on.

Shearing is quite a mesmerising process - 4 portable clipping machines, 4 strapping men in the shearer's outfit of shearing trousers (they'd so catch on with the hipsters of Hoxton - you saw it here first), vest and sheepskin moccasins and 4 others herding the ewes through the gate, separating the ewes' lambs, rolling the oily shorn fleeces on the tarpaulin and then stuffing them into the ginormous wool sacks.  All to the deafening sounds of the clippers, baahs and a Makita radio tuned to Heart FM.

It literally runs like a well-oiled machine, with the naked sheep pogoing vertically out of the shed with their lambs at the other end.

Baah-rilliant! (sorry).